In the 1990s we saw the widespread expansion of a new and unique form of entertainment: virtual pets. NanoPets, Tamagotchis and a plenty of other trend-following brands began marketing little electronic keychains that provided users with a virtual companion that literally depended on them to remain alive.

Since then a few advancements have been made in the virtual pet arena and we’ve seen just enough quirky console and handheld games to keep the trend partially alive. Now that smartphones have become fairly ubiquitous we are seeing a resurgence in games based on the idea of interacting with a virtual creature that requires daily attention.

Today we’ll look at a couple of apps that can help quench your inexplicable need to nurture binary-based beings.

How many yards are in a mile? How many ounces are in a cup? What’s the current conversion rate of dollars to euros? The apps in this post are built specifically to answer these questions.

Today we’ll take a look at three solutions for converting almost everything you can think of on your iPhone. We’ll start with two of the best paid options out there and conclude with a free but adequate alternative.

If you’re a movie buff, your iPhone is an excellent companion to aid you on your quest for cinematic knowledge. Whether you’re looking for trailers, trivia or showtimes, you guessed it; there’s an app for that!

We’ll help you fill your iPhone with every kind of movie application available. The best part: it won’t cost you a cent. To ensure that you still have plenty of cash to drop on tickets and popcorn, today’s post will be comprised of only free apps. Let’s get started!

The iPhone’s ability to connect to wireless systems via Wifi and/or Bluetooth opens up a wide range of potential devices that the iPhone can control. This functionality isn’t limited to your television or stereo but expands over a variety of electronic equipment in your home.

Today we’ll take a brief look at ten iPhone applications that are built to control elements of a home automation system. Examples include everything from video cameras and security systems to lighting rigs and automatic blinds. What will you control?

I have a decade old, 2nd Gen iPod (a huge white and silver brick) that arguably beats my iPod Touch in two key built-in features. The first is that it is much faster to transfer music to because it supports FireWire, (but that’s a rant for another time). The brick’s second excellent feature is the ability to mount on my Mac and act just like an external hard drive.

While it doesn’t seem like iPhones/iPods will be supporting FireWire any time soon, a slew of third party app developers have addressed the need to use your Apple mobile device as a wireless portable drive. Nearly all of them function in the same manner so I’ll walk you through the app that I personally use and then present a number of alternatives.

After deciding to eat out, I often find myself asking the questions “where should I eat?” or “is that restaurant any good?” Sure, you can do it the old fashioned way and ask around, or run a web search, but what if there was a better way?

Urbanspoon, a free, user friendly, iPhone application is here to solve your dining dilemma. We’ll be taking a look at how easy it is to find a new restaurant, narrow down your search, and even look around using food-finding augmented reality.

The ever-present-ness of your iPhone makes it the ideal device for doing impromptu math. Chances are, you just use the built-in calculator for price calculations, etc. But there’s a much better—and more elegant—app for that: Soulver.

We’ll be taking a look at how the application works, sharing a few examples, and outlining how it’s easy to save and revisit calculations at a later date.

If you’re reading this, you will probably agree that the iPhone is one of the most useful devices currently on the market. But there’s a lot more functionality than initially meets the eye. The iPhone is simple on the surface, but packed with hidden features.

Here are over thirty iPhone tips and tricks that aren’t widely publicised – I’m sure you’ll have encountered a few before, but some are bound to be brand new to you. Read on to join the ranks of an iPhone ninja!

The ringtones that come bundled with your iPhone are great, but what if you want something a little more unique? Today I’ll be looking at a number of different sources for high-quality iPhone ringtones, along with offering some advice about how you can create your own for free!

We’ll be looking at using iTunes and GarageBand for converting your existing music into an iTunes ringtone, how to purchase ringtones through the iTunes Store, and a few third party applications to help you out.

Have you ever been sitting at home while making a call to someone only to find yourself hurrying up the conversation to save minutes? Or how about paying outrageous international roaming charges when travelling abroad? Now, wherever there’s a Wi-Fi hotspot, you can make ‘app to app’ calls for free.

You may wonder what ‘app to app’ means. Well, with VoIP calls there is no direct and easy way to make free calls from your iPhone to a cellular or landline. Doing so does costs money (albeit sometimes far less than using your cellular network), and each VoIP client has their own rates. But, if you wish to call someone who is already using Skype, Fring, or any of the other apps listed below, you can in fact do so for free.

Below are some of the most popular and widely used VoIP apps for the iPhone!